


Born of Denial (A Clone's Tale)

by mosaicofdreamsanddragons



Series: Missing Moments In-Between [3]
Category: LEGO Monkie Kid
Genre: This would be Gen if the POV character was not doomed by canon, What happened to all the other characters while the hero was away?, set between episode 9 and 10
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:08:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27074746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mosaicofdreamsanddragons/pseuds/mosaicofdreamsanddragons
Summary: "While you were gone, things got kinda intense."How intense?The apocalypse through the eyes of a clone.
Series: Missing Moments In-Between [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1967488
Comments: 8
Kudos: 41





	1. Chapter 1

His first memories was of the leftover destruction that had once been some sort of threat. The original, his creator, was talking fast to a girl beside him. Mei supplied memories that were not his. Something about a new training regimen which would take a while, and not to expect him back. Then he’d hopped off. To go train under the black monkey whispered his not-memories. 

Hmm, he couldn’t quite put his finger on it but he had a bit of a problem with that. Something niggled at his memories. No, that was an understatement. This jarring feeling of unease was only dwarfed by the all-consuming need to chill that he was sure he’d been created from. Against his inborn nature to let things play out of their own accord, he grabbed his retreating original’s arm and opened his mouth and struggle for a bit to get language down. “Danger,” he finally managed to get out. 

“I’ve never seen one do that before!” said Mei. “Is that normal?”

“I don’t know what to tell you,” said his creator to him. “But the danger’s gone.” 

The time it took his creator to say that did such wonder for his vocal cords that he suspected magic was behind it. It did not, however, grant him eloquence or persuasion and further discussion on the matter proved to be futile. Actions also failed to sway his creator, who just shrugged off his newly born clones incessant tugging and bounced off to train with the suspicious monkey. Leaving said clone alone struggling with how to handle this leftover unease, which was clearly not his because he’d been born from the desire to chill. Clearly. 

As per his not-memories instructions, he goes about the original’s day. And those wiggling anxieties don’t bother him at all because he’s the master of calm nonchalance, if he does say so himself. For evidence of his mastery over baseless fears, look no further than the reactions of the others… Mei takes him to an arcade and he manages to smile in the crowded place where there is nowhere to hide…from how cool he looks! Yep! That’s it. That’s all that’s going on.

And he’s not relieved at all when Mei decides they should head home after only one round of their game or that she walks him home to his apartment. They play video games on his couch while she texts something on her phone to… Sandy he thinks, given the cat emojis. He can’t make out anything else. He’s too busy checking the window and doors to make sure they are secure because it might be cold tonight.

The next day Pigsy greets him with a, “My kitchen is a mess. You’re on dishes.” He gets to work, periodically glancing up to watch those who come in. He would have merely listened for entries but he can barely make out what Pigsy and Mr. Tang are saying and they’re barely on the other side of the room.

“….bit of mindless work all he needs.” Says Pigsy.

Mr. Tang reply is nearly unintelligible. “something-something- Sandy.”

He watches as Pigsy moves off. Is he making the deliveries today? Mr. Tang takes the opportunity to swoop over to the counter and regale him with a Monkey King story. Mr. Tang does this sometimes, his not-memories whisper. He ignores them because he doesn’t want to have the story spoiled for him. He still watches the door but now its for Mr. Tang’s sake (and his own if Pigsy caches him).

Sandy shows up next. Mo in tow. Mr. Tang waves him and his tea pot (how was that boiling he was literally carrying it) over and proceeds to tell another story while Sandy placed Mo down. Immediately the cat jumped on the counter and started nudging at the clone doing the dishes. 

He stared at Mo. Mo stared at him. Slowly he reaches one hand out and rubs it down Mo’s back. Mo purrs. Red Son does not burst in. The mysterious monkey does not come in. Even Pigsy does not come in. The boy feels himself smile. Everything was fine.

He doesn’t notice Mr. Tang’s story drop off, or see the look that passes between the two older men.

He does hear Mei and Pigsy burst in. He’s on his feet in an instant but Pigsy doesn’t even scold him for slacking off. All he says is, “We’ve got trouble.”

Upon seeing the bull demon minions he wants to scream, “I WAS RIGHT!” to the stars above. The only reason he didn’t was he knew that wouldn’t be very chill of him. Still he can’t contain the elation that comes with being proven right. He knew something was wrong, he knew it. Even the original didn’t see it but he did!!! Mei takes his elation as battle confidence and laughs. Together they lunge at the approaching demon bull minions. 

It doesn’t work. 

He wracks his not-memories for answers and tries again. 

It doesn’t work.

He doesn’t understand. These are small fry. He takes these out all the time. 

It doesn’t work. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t work.

Its Pigsy who drags him away from the battle. Mr. Tang is already driving the truck. Sandy had Mei. 

It didn’t work. He threw everything he had at it and it wasn’t enough. There is nothing he can do.

Except wait for the original. 

He suddenly becomes aware of his breathing. It was fast. He’s squished into Pigsy’s truck, between the door and Pigsy himself. He can just make out the demon bull minions as they pull away. They have a light blue afterglow. 

Pretty.

He reaches deep into himself and pulls out the emotion he was built on, drawing it over himself like a shield. There was fear there, always had been. But he was made to relax in the face of danger. He could do this. It’s like looking thought a veil at the world. 

He blinks into reality. Pigsy is upset. But his words don’t really reach him. They are thrown from side to side by Mr. Tang’s bad driving. He lets himself move with the car. It’s just like a ride at an amusement park. 

The practically slam into the docks and catch air as they move onto Sandy’s boat. Neat. 

He feels Pigsy pull him out of the car and half stumbles after him. He hears Mr. Tang rev the engine again and pull the truck behind some crates. He sees Sandy cradling an unconscious Mei in front of him. Pigsy’s incessant pulling draws him into the elevator and the smell of five sweaty bodies choke him until they are finally able to exit into the secret base.

The secret base is cool. Colorful gadgets he’s only really seen used in not-memories cover the walls. He really wants to explore, but he’s guided to the tv area. Mei is placed on the couch by Sandy before he runs off to find something. Pigsy place the boy at the edge and holds up his fingers. “How many fingers am I holding up kid?”

There are three. “Three,” he replies. 

Pigsy lets his fingers drop and starts checking him over for something. Sandy materializes next to them and starts bandaging Mei. Huh. He hadn’t noticed she was bleeding. Pigsy starts adding bandages to him too.

The three adults are talking over him. “The kids will need time to recover…” 

“Someone should stay with them. The other two might be able to do something with the tech in here.”

“Maybe we should wait for the kids to wake up….we’ll have time to rest and plan and we can go in as a team…”

Mei stirred. Good. She’d be able to show him around. That would be fun. 

She does not get to show him around the base. When she’s able to move she’s mainly talking to the others about the plan of attack. He wanders the base by himself until one of them corrals him back to the main team. 

They end up going out again. And again. And again. Each time they bring out some of the tech from their hide out, and every time it fails. He wonders if they are supposed to be learning something from all of this. But when he voices his musing, Mr. Tang only sighs.

“I don’t know what to tell you. It’s the only plan we’ve got.”

Its Pigsy who insists on going out again and again. Every time they get out there he tries to get to the shop. They never make it. And every time the return he shrugs off whatever injury he has and goes to grab the next weapon on the wall. And every time its Sandy who stops him with a nod to the rest of the group. 

Every time, they are a sorry sight. Mei is almost always injured; always the first to throw herself into battle. Mr. Tang fares poorly as well, often a result of covering for someone. Sandy takes the most damage from carrying one or more of their unconscious bodies to safety. 

Pigsy takes more damage than any of them, save Mei, but that doesn’t stop him. Nothing stops him. Nothing but the sight of his injured companions and Sandy’s quite “I don’t know what to tell you, but we need to rest.”

There is exhaustion in Pigsy’s eyes. 

The boy, on the other hand, is fine. He doesn’t do well in fights but, since he’s mastered the art of chill, it’s not like it bothers him anymore. And yeah, the headband and jacket attract trouble but Mr. Tang always pulls him out. And sure, Mr. Tang sarcasm output is directly proportional to the times he’s pulled the boy from death’s door but it’s not like he can solve that problem. Things he cannot control he doesn’t worry about. Not a bit. 

After the same old song and dance with Sandy talking Pigsy down from running off on “Patrol” again, they settle into their down time activities. For the boy this means chilling on the couch and pretending the tv works. Or wandering around the base for the umpteenth time. Or trying to make a tower out of all the discarded and broken weapons. Today he sits on the couch next to Mei and tries to pretend the game system is running. It would be a survival game. One of those post apocalypse ones. 

Sandy heads up to fish once he’s sure no one needs medical attention and Pigsy isn’t going to run off again. They are low on food. Which may sound bad but how big of a problem is it really if none of them are in the mood for food? Sandy never heeds this logic and instead risks daily visits to the surface for fish with only Mo to stand watch. The cat, at least, enjoys the daily fish surplus. 

Mei spends her down time as she always does, staring at her phone. It’s a pointless endeavor, he knows, the bull demon minions were careful to get any transmitter and effectively downed the internet and cell service. They even went after old fashioned phone lines and radio transmitters. But Mei doesn’t stop hitting redial and a recording plays the line “I’m sorry we were unable to reach the number you dialed” over and over again.

Mr. Tang stands before the monitor, watching the destruction. Buildings destroyed, people screaming they couldn’t make it in time to help, movements of bull demon minions they can’t stop all broadcasted to the rest of the hideout. The boy had learned to tune it out, same as with Mei’s redials. 

When unable to go back out on “patrol,” Pigsy often sorts through the weapons in the area for something they can use next time. He used to cook but they ran out of noodles two days ago. Used the last spices the day before that. Yesterday they ate the last of their vegetables. So today all cooking waits until Sandy brings ingredients up from the ocean. Without any food to prepare, Pigsy can only sort though the pile of broken weapons for something that might have survived their last encounter with the enemy. 

Each sound from the monitor makes Pigsy tense. The screams make him flinch. The destruction makes him drop whatever he’s holding roughly back onto the ground. His shoulders are hunched and his hands are shaking. 

A sudden explosion from the monitor makes them all jump. Or rather it makes the boy jump, Mei just glance up from her phone before dropping her head again to hit redial. Pigsy rises from what he’s doing and stocks over to Mr. Tang. “Stop it or let me go out again,” he almost growls. 

Instead of snapping back with a sarcastic quip Mr. Tang just glances up from the monitor and says quietly, “We are going to have to leave.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’ve been saying…” begins Pigsy but Tang cuts him off.

“I mean we are going to have to relocate our base.”

“Why?” says Sandy, stepping out of the elevator, smelling of fish. “We are doing pretty good here, as far as supplies go.” He holds up his catch of the day. Which they will eat without vegetables or spices or noodles. They are even down to their last teabag. 

Mr. Tang doesn’t answer. Instead turns from the group and pulls up images on the monitor. Videos of demon bull king minion attacks in their area spring up. There is nothing unusual about that. 

“Over the past few days,” says Mr. Tang. “They have been more and more sightings around our area. And those sightings almost all happen mere moments after we have left. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. They are hunting us, and they are getting closer.”

There is silence in response only to be broken by “The number you are trying to reach…” from Mei’s phone. She isn’t looking at it but the sound echoes over the room. 

“We could try my parent’s house,” she whispers, but they all hear her fine. “Just until things cool down.”

No one replies for a moment. 

“That’s an option,” Mr. Tang begins carefully. “And could be really helpful for a while but…”

“…but we’ll need a way to get there that’s undetectable,” says Pigsy quickly. “Something they won’t recognize. Like my truck.”

“How is your truck unrecognizable?” snaps Mr. Tang. Pigsy looks at him and flicks his eyes to Mei who has turned her attention back to her phone. 

“We could paint it!” says Sandy quickly. “A fresh coat of paint would do the old girl some good!”

Mei perks up at that, glancing up from her phone again. “Let’s paint it green!”

Pigsy raises his hands up to ward off imaginary painters. “Now hold up,” he says. “This is my truck, and I say if we are going to do this, we are going to do this in colors that I like.”

“I have a can of orange?” said Sandy. He pulls his fingers up and ticks off imaginary paint buckets. “And black and blue, and maybe a bit of yellow.”

“Green!” says Mei, her phone dropping from her hand onto the couch. 

“How about a design?” say Mr. Tang turning to her and the boy. “Something out of one of your video games, the ones with the spiky outfits.”

“Why don’t we wait until we see what Sandy has?” says Pigsy and motions for the others to follow him and Sandy. As they troop towards the elevator Pigsy leans over and loudly whispers, “Please, for the love of everything, tell me you don’t have that much yellow.”

Sandy, it turns out, does not have a lot of yellow. He barely has any at all. Undeterred, Mei tears apart Sandy’s arts and crafts supplies to see if she can find more. The rest of them find themselves staring at the truck contemplating its future makeover. 

“What’s the most inconspicuous design we have?” says Mr. Tang fiddling with his glasses. “Should we draw a bull demon minion on it and let them think it’s one of theirs?”

“This is my truck,” mutters Pigsy, “And I’m not putting an enemy logo on it!”

“What if we tried subtly expressing our anger through signs that they might not be familiar with?” Sandy says. He runs his fingers through his beard. “I took a few art classes for therapy and I know a thing or two about symbols with hidden meaning.”

“Well then make something to do with noodles and down with the demon bull king,” Pigsy says with a wave of his hand. He moves closer to the truck as if surveying a design. “And I’m not all that great with art so you make the lines and I’ll fill in.”

Sandy gets to work. Pigsy joined in and Mr. Tang follows. But not before placing a brush in the hand of the watching boy. 

He slowly joined in. It’s more fun than fake video games. 

He didn’t notice how Mr. Tang took the opportunity to slip away once the boy was immersed in his craft. Didn’t notice how he started loading food, water, and blankets into the back of the truck. He was too busy following the lines Sandy drew and trying not to (not) splash paint on Pigsy. 

Mei burst out of the boat with a shout that made them all flinch. Paint got everywhere, seagulls flew off, and Mr. Tang dropped the pillows he’d been loading into the truck. Mei seemed to realize what she’d done and covered her mouth. There were a few moments of tense silence.

The seagulls settled back on the ship.

Mei pulled her hand from her mouth and whispered loudly, “I’ve got the _best_ idea!” And she held up her hands, which, he now realized, were full of spikes. “We can get outfits to match the truck!”

The adults exchanged glances. New clothes would be nice, but none of them had any on the boat. Except for Sandy of course. “With what?” said Mr. Tang, side eyeing Sandy. 

“With this!” said Mei. “A little work on these old spiked armor and we could get it to fit us! It’ll be an apocalypse makeover! And the best part is we get to feel like we’re in new clothes without actually having to be in new clothes!”

She handed the spikes, which the boy could now see were attached to shoulder pads, over to Pigsy. Then she went running back in to return with belts and goggles.

They ended up leaving later than planned. No one cared. Mei was laughing again, excitedly trying to get their costumes to mimic her favorite video game characters. 

And he would be lying if he didn’t say he joined in. He wandered next to her and provided second opinions on the costumes. And first opinions. This was his apocalypse game too. Pigsy let them put the smidge of yellow paint onto his face. Mr. Tang accepted an ammunition belt. Sandy didn’t even argue when they gave him a shirt. 

But when it was his turn to get dolled up he took one look at the red headband Mei was wearing and said, “No thanks, I’m good.”

“C’mon!” she said. “You can’t just dress everybody up and then not dress up yourself!”

He looked at the red headband she had tied around her head. 

In the game that was done to honor the dead. 

“No,” he said. “I’ll pass.” And he stomps into the truck. He can hear Pigsy telling Mei not to press him but he doesn’t care. He doesn’t care. The original isn’t dead. He can’t be. 

When the others crowd in the good mood from moments before has evaporated. Pigsy drives. 

In hindsight they should have seen this coming.

“Pigsy this is the way back to the shop,” says Mr. Tang.

Pigsy’s shoulders rise up. “So what?”

“So the point is to avoid suspicion!” snaps Mr. Tang.

“I’m driving and it’s my shop, we’re going to pass by it!”

“We’ll just draw more attention to ourselves!!!”

“How about some tea?” says Sandy producing a teapot from nowhere. 

“Stay out of this!” they both growl. Sandy’s teapot vanishes.

The boy fights the urge to stick his hands over his ears. It’s fine. He can handle this. He’s chill. Everything is chill. Out of the corner of his eye he can see Mei gripping her phone. She hits a familiar button again.

He takes a breath and counts the seconds for the familiar message. One to dial. Two to dial. Three to dial.

The phone clicks.

The car is so still they can all hear the voice of two worried people through the phone. Mei drops it, and fumbles around. Tang finds it and wordlessly hands it over, fight forgotten. Mei grabs it and holds it up to her ear. 

“Hi Mom, Dad.” Mei says in a happy voice, but the tears in her eyes make it come out thickly. 

Pigsy keeps driving in the direction of the shop. No one comments on it. 

Mei is done talking by the time they reach a familiar street. Bull demon minions crawl all over Pigsy’s pride and joy, and some poor kid is standing right int front of them. Some poor kid with an orange jacket and red headband…

Mei, Pigsy, and Sandy are out of the car in a flash. He’s to stunned to move so he waits inside with Mr. Tang.

The others explain the situation to his baffled creator. When he turns his attention to him wondering why he couldn’t prevent all this he just shrugs. There really is only one thing to say: “I don’t know what to tell you guy.”

MK feels the rush of memories flood in him, but they are blurred. His boy hadn’t really been paying attention to the details. So instead he asks for clarification. “What happened?”

Mr. Tang tells a tale that gives meaning to the images that his boy left in his brain. Also the deep aching fear leaking through shields of denial. Well no need to fear. The Monkie kid was here to save the day. For the sake of everyone. And for the sake of his boy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Believe it or not, this was more angsty when I first wrote it. But that depressed me so I toned it down.


	2. Facing Fears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So after fading out of existence two minutes into episode 10, clone boy is done. Or so he thinks.
> 
> (He's wrong)

He almost blew their cover right upon coming into existence. It was just a lot. The suddenness of being able to feel heat and taste dirt in the air had made him want to cry out. But no sound came and as he frantically searched his not-memories for a reason he was called up again, he saw the danger such an action could bring. He’d never thought he’d actually be happy for the minute long wait for speech to catch up with him. 

With his creator moving into position for the big finish, he got ready for his part. He picked up the staff and briefly considered his options. He needed to get the Bull Demon King’s attention somehow. 

His eyes fell upon the rocks surrounding him. And a memory, his own not his creators, slipped in to his mind.

_The new weapon had broken. At this point, he’d been actively planning for that to happen. Weapon down: time to give one last half-hearted try and wait for Mr. Tang to pull him out. Mei was down, as usual, but Sandy was still fighting his way through the bull demon minions and wasn’t yet at her side. And…and he wasn’t going to make it._

_The bull demon minions are closing in and no one can get over there. Mr. Tang is with him and they’re even further from Mei then Sandy. There’s no one left._

_A rock hits the bull demon minion closest to Mei. It stops and turns around. There, silhouetted in the evening sun stands Pigsy, another rock at the ready. The boy doesn’t even notice as Mr. Tang pulls him away. All he can think about was Pigsy and how…_

_...he looked like such a hero._

Time to be a hero. He grabbed the rock and threw it at the Demon Bull King. And then said, with the first sentence he said since returning, “Yeah! I got more rocks where that one came from!”

He could barely make out the terrified face of Red Son before a massive hand shoved him to the wall, and his entire vision was consumed by one massive purple face. He was pulled closer to stare into the glowing blue eyes – pretty – of the Demon Bull King while he spoke. 

“You have been an utter disappoint. I had hopped you would have learned more of the great Sage’s little tricks.” 

He didn’t know.

The demon bull king didn’t know. 

_It was the first day, after their second loss. Mr. Tang collapsed in front of the monitor and replayed their battle from the footage on Mei’s body cameras and other security tapes. He’d watch and replay and watch and replay, analyzing every second. When that was done he’d expanded his search by playing other footage._

_“Well?” said Pigsy. “What have you got?”_

_“Nothing,” said Mr. Tang. “I can’t find the source of the minions, I can’t find where we went wrong, and I can’t find the Demon Bull King. I just…” he let his hands fall from the monitor, “I just don’t know.” Then he shakes himself, sits up, and starts scrutinizing the footage again._

_That night, when the boy tried to dream of monkeys and peaches he instead watches his team get consumed one by one by a glowing blue vaguely bull-shaped figure. Its mouth opens and its laugh is the sounds of Mei’s redials and Mr. Tang’s replays._

The boy stared into the eyes of the source of his nightmares, his nightmares not his originals, and realized he was buying every minute of this. Really was only one thing to say to that, “I don’t know what to tell you dude,” he said striking the coolest pose he could muster with only half of his body.

He felt the hand around him constrict. It hurt, but more importantly he realized he might have egged the demon bull king on too much. His original might not be in position yet. “No wait!” he gasped out before he felt himself vanish. 

Oh well. His original would have to make do. As he faded into the original’s consciousness he only wished he could see the look on the demon bull king’s face when he realized he was a clone. 

…he was spit back out surrounded by dozens of his fellow clones. And yes, there’s the sudden rush that comes with sudden life, but its overwhelmed by adrenaline and the sight before him. Staring up at him and his brothers, glowing blue eyes wide and purple jaw slack, is the Demon Bull King. The boy couldn’t help but grin at the shocked expression on his, his not his creator’s, enemies face. 

He felt elated. Like he could do something. And yeah, as a clone born from denial and repressed fear, he couldn’t do much. But there was a reason he hadn’t let Mei change his outfit. 

He’d already been cosplaying a hero.

He grabbed his creator’s hands and used his weight to throw him towards the problem. He knew how exhilarating such a feeling could be.

_One second he’d been in front of the demon bull minions, the next he was in the air, staring in shock down at Sandy._

_As he arced through the sky all he could think about was how he hadn’t known Sandy could throw him this high or this far. He ended up landing on Mr. Tang but he couldn’t even hear the sarcastic quip as he was shoved into the car, his mind was still filled with the rush of weightlessness and a blue form growing more and more distant._

He bit back the memory of being punted to safety. Instead he focused on the present and the sweet sense of accomplishment that comes from successfully completing a move he’d only seen done to him. He tried to suppress a grin as he let gravity do its work. 

It felt good to use that skill for offense. 

He fell down with his brothers in a rush of red hairbands and orange jackets. Left and right they poofed out of existence as they gave their one good hit or got smacked by the Bull Demon King’s flaying hands. Still he presses on, throwing everything he’s got into the fight with the reckless abandon that reminds him so much of Mei

_Mei fought like this was the first battle. She laughed and grinned and practically bounced in between her strikes. She’s a green whirlwind. Its captivating to watch, even though he knows how this will end._

A flailing hand catches him and he knows he’s not got much time left. But just as he starts to disappear, he catches sight of a glowing blue canister falling to the ground. And he lets himself vanish with a feeling of deep seated relief.

Mei won’t be dialing the same number over and over

Sandy can make tea without fear of running out of teabags.

Mr. Tang won’t be watching the damage they couldn’t prevent on loop. 

Pigsy can go back to his store.

They won.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There wasn't originally gonna be more of this but then I saw how similarly the clone responded later in the episode and I was like "wait, I think that's the same one" Which raises a whole lot of other questions but I was to busy making this chapter to dwell on them.

**Author's Note:**

> Believe it or not, this was more angsty when I first wrote it. But that depressed me so I toned it down.


End file.
